OK, all you scrapbookers out there….please don’t laugh!  LOL.  I’m still a newbie at scrapping and I really am trying….really….I am!  ;)  This page just seems a bit busy doesn’t it?  hehe.  Well, I’ll try to learn from it.  What I really wanted to share with you is the stamped images.  C.C. Designs will be releasing some cute new sets next week and this is my first sneak peek.  This set is called Pretty Kitties and includes 2 cats, some words and a little mouse.  The words “Pretty kitty” and “one cool cat” were stamped directly onto the photos.  Another new set was used here called “All The Months” which is just what the title describes…all of the months in a super cute font!  When I saw the cat stamps and the month words, I thought it would be the “purr-fect” time to scrap some kitty photos!  Henrietta is no longer with us.  She lived to be about 13 and she was such a nice cat.  Well, she could get naughty too!  LOL.  She even managed to open the screen door!  The photo above shows one of her favorite spots that she liked to sleep.  I could never keep flowers planted in this little flower box because she would lay right in the dirt with them.  The flowers would die and dirt was dumped everywhere so I eventually gave up and let her sleep there.  The flowers look so pretty in the box right now and I think of her everytime I see them.   

Here’s the other kitty in the stamp set.  They sure have personality!  The brown mouse on the right was colored and popped up.  I stamped the crown from the first kitty and cut it out, attaching it to the photo.  How fitting…. she sure acted like a princess at times!  Some Stickles was added to the flowers and crowns for sparkle.  Gotta have some bling!  Check back tomorrow for another sneak peek and check the ATS blog for more great samples.

stamps- Pretty Kitties, All The Months- C.C. Designs

paper- Regal Rose, Apricot, Wasabi, White, Pumpkin, Bliss Blue

ink- Black, Pumpkin, Wasabi

accessories- circle Nestabilities, Cuttlebug Arrows die, gel pen, Primas, Stickles, Copic markers

I am branching out of my comfort zone here. The only scrapbooking I’ve done is about 5 pages, a few 6×6 recipe pages, and 2 layouts that were made at the SU! regionals I attended. I really never thought that I’d be interested in scrapbooking but I learned a long time ago to “never say never”. A few years ago I had a wonderful secret sister who put so much thought into her gift and made me a 6×6 album of pages that were stamped and ready for pictures to be added. I’ll never forget how surprised I was at this thoughtful gift! It is one to cherish! Well, this was the time I would have to say that piqued my interest in scrapbooking.
So now, I am participating in a 2 page 6×6 swap with some friends. I was assigned the theme of “fall” and here’s what I made to swap. I needed to make 22 of these so I hope there won’t be 21 disappointed ladies! LOL. The little acorn was stamped “second generation” to make it lighter. (It was stamped on scrap paper once and then onto the circle without re-inking) I thought it would be nice to write the date that the photo was taken on top of the acorn. And after piercing all of the holes, I still had it in my mind that I wanted some stitches in certain areas so I drug out the sewing machine for a few more accents. I need to move on now to some other projects but if you have any scrapbooking advice, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

stamps- Big Deal alphabet, Karen Foster Snap Stamps, Autumn Fest
paper- Olive, non-SU, Apple Cider ds paper
ink- Choc. Chip, Rust, Mustard, Pumpkin
accessories- Scallop Circle punch, Photo Corners punch, Coluzzle, circle punches, Paper Piercing tools, copper brad, sewing machine

Here’s a 6×6 recipe page I recently made for a swap. I took the photo that I previously posted and reduced the size. Then I placed 8 of them together to fit on a 4×6 size sheet of photo paper and made a few prints. The recipe was printed onto vellum and wheeled with the Bold Snowflakes Jumbo wheel. The snowman and snowflakes are Cuttlebug dies….very fun to use! A snowy ground was cut free-hand from white cardstock. And the holly was stamped, cut out and accented with a red eyelet for the berry.

stamps- Bold Snowflakes wheel, Sleigh Bells Ring (holly)
paper- vellum, non SU!
ink- Bashful, Garden, Cocoa, Pretty in Pink
accessories- photo, eyelet, staples, Cuttlebug Snowflakes #2 die and Winter die

yum! I don’t remember who shared this recipe but they sure are good muffins! This is for a recipe swap I’m in. I was anxious to try using the Wanted and Bronc Buster sets to go along with the name of the muffins. The muffin was made by stamping the top of the cupcake from the Big Bold Birthday set with Caramel ink. Then I used the dots from the same set in blue. The base of the cupcake has words printed on it and I knew that wouldn’t work for this design…..so I used my large tag punch to punch out the bottoms. I could have just cut some squares but the shape of the tag fits under the curve of the frosting and gives a nice place to attach them together. Next I ran the bottoms through my paper crimper and swiped them across my Bashful inkpad to highlight the ridges. The green layer on the left was stamped “one sheet wonder” style and cut into strips.

stamps- Big Bold Birthday, Wanted, Bronc Buster
paper- is or is comparable to Navy, Sage, Bashful, Caramel, White
ink- Caramel, Navy, Choc. Chip, Cocoa, Rust, Bashful
accessories- Photo Corner punch, Lg. tag punch, Crimper, eyelets, Crop-A-Dile, edge distressor, sponge

I have been working on a card that I can’t share quite yet…for another cookie exchange. So I decided to share a recipe instead. This is a 6×6 recipe page that I did for a swap back in January. I printed the recipes from the computer and then cut them out with the Sizzix File folder and my Cuttlebug. Last night we attended a salad dinner and I wasn’t sure what to make. I was also only home about a half hour to throw something together! This recipe is very quick and it was a hit. Everyone seemed to like it.

stamps- DD Grapes, Fine Lace, Noteworthy, Karen Foster Snap Stamps- small casual, Northwoods
cardstock- Lilac, non- SU
ink- Lilac, Garden, Mustard, Saffron
access- Sizzix File Folder, ribbon, brad

Today I started working on my projects for my first workshop….it was fun & a tiny bit stressful at the same time. LOL. I want to keep the projects simple because I will have some new stampers in a few weeks. But “simple” and “I” just don’t go well together in the same sentence. LOL. I just want to faux stitch, poke some holes & Stickle it up! Both my regular stamping friends and the new group of ladies seemed to like the 6×6 recipe pages, so I designed this recipe page and started working on a card as well. I hope I kept a good balance in level of difficulty and yet still achieve a pleasing design so they have enough time to finish both projects. I have the recipes already printed and the “glasses” traced onto cardstock so that should help. I *really* wanted to use a strawberry stamp on this but it is retired. And as I was searching for a straw to cut and attach to the top of the glass, I realized that I threw all the straws I had away on a “cleaning out” spree a few months ago. After I printed off the recipes, I also realized that I hadn’t tried this one before! oops! Let’s just hope it’s a good one! It only has 3 ingredients….how bad can it be?

I started out by playing around on my print program to find an image of a glass. I just use an old program I’ve had called Print Artist. I first tried making the words fit inside the shape but it was just going to be a bit more effort than I was up to. So I decided to size the glass to the measurements I wanted and layer the words over top. The glass was printed out, cut & traced onto heavy cardstock for a pattern and then traced onto Barely Banana cs. I am sorry but I didn’t think to scan the pattern. The words were printed onto vellum and then cut to 4″ x 5″. The Bodacious wheel was inked with Regal Rose and wheeled up the left side. Then I stamped the swirls in Garden Green on the bottom right corner. Next I stamped some flowers in Summer Sun on the top of the glass and glued it to the Regal Rose base. The vellum was just placed overtop (not attached yet). Three flowers and some leaves were stamped, cut out and carefully taped down, slightly overlapping the vellum. (The vellum is now attached to the base by the flowers). I used the Crop-A-Dile to attach 2 black eyelets on the remaining 2 corners that were still loose. To finish it off, I ran a piece of ribbon through the top eyelet & around the side. Whew! This doesn’t look like much but it took quite a bit of time today. I must be a slow stamper. *And I STILL think it needs Stickles! LOL.

stamps- Bodacious Bouquet & Bodacious Jumbo wheel (on the Dormant list)
cs- Regal Rose, Banana, vellum, white
ink- Regal Rose, Summer Sun, Garden Green
access- computer for words, eyelets, Crop-A-Dile, ribbon